It's all in the lateral prefrontal cortex

Most of you will need no persuading that solving crosswords is in and of itself a pleasure and a good thing to do. But, for those who missed the news last month, a team of psychologists at Harvard has produced research to show that doing crosswords also significantly reduces the risk of nursing a long grudge against one's loved one after an argument.

We all know that it is best not to go to sleep still angry after a row, but this research claims to show that crossword solving is clearly associated with feeling better in the days following a domestic rift. According to the team's report in the journal Biological Psychiatry, it all has to do with a part of your brain called the lateral prefrontal cortex. This is the part associated with problem solving and decision making and the study, involving healthy couples who had been in a relationship for at least three months, found that those with higher levels of lateral prefrontal cortex activity are better at controlling their emotions than those with lower. To be honest, the study was measuring the effect of doing all kinds of puzzles, including Sudoku. Also, as this was a Harvard study, it says nothing about whether the more developed British-style of cryptic crossword puzzle has greater therapeutic value than an American-style crossword puzzle. But I pass on the findings in case you want to use them to persuade others to do crosswords or to ease any slight feelings of guilt you may have at the proportion of the waking day you devote to this now medically endorsed pastime._____

At regular intervals I get splenetic emails complaining about the level of fundamental ignorance displayed in clues and solutions. Last month saw an unusual concentration of such messages. Among them were: that there is only one 't' (not two) in chapati; that there is no such thing as a koala bear, as it is not a bear; that a helix is not the same as a spiral; that compound is not a synonym for mixture; and that a toadstool is not "a plant akin to a mushroom".

To tackle first the spelling question. Even if you have always spelled a word in one way only and/or if your dictionary gives it as the sole correct way of doing so, the assertion that there is only one true way is surprisingly often unfounded, especially with words that have entered English directly and relatively recently from a foreign language, in the case of the chapat(t)i from Hindi. Both Chambers and Collins, in fact, give the one- and two-t versions as equally valid alternative spellings, while the Oxford Dictionary of English gives chapatti (and, to complicate things, chupatty) but not chapati.

The other complaints about misuse of words fall into the class of terms which have a precise meaning for the specialist, who writes to me to complain, but which have also acquired a more general meaning, long since endorsed as correct by usage and by the compilers of reputable dictionaries. Zoologists are, of course, correct in asserting that the koala is not a bear and should not be classed as one. But, as a note in the Oxford Dictionary of English says, the term koala bear is accepted and in general use as an alternative to koala. Further, it tells us that in Australia the koala is also called the "native bear". Given where the animal comes from, this is at least a factor to be weighed in the crossword balance.

And so with helix. In geometry, obviously, a helix is not a spiral, for a spiral is a plane figure where the radius increases with angle, whereas a helix is a three-dimensional thing advancing as if round the outside surface of a cylinder (eg a car spring). But when Collins, for example, gives as a second (non-geometrical) meaning "a spiral shape or form" it is difficult to say that spiral and helix cannot in general be used as synonyms. In my book the same reasoning applies to "compound/mixture". As every GCSE chemistry student knows, a mixture is something that can be separated by physical methods, whereas a compound can only be separated into its components chemically. But when, for example, the Oxford Dictionary of English defines compound as "a thing that is composed of two or more separate elements: a mixture" is the crossword not in the clear?

The toadstool/mushroom issue is more complicated as, for botanists, they are both fungi, which have now been given their own separate kingdom, distinct from the kingdom of green plants. (The main difference, of course, is that fungi lack chlorophyll and are therefore incapable of photosynthesis.) But, aside from this (relatively recent) taxonomy of botanical kingdoms, Chambers starts its definition of plant as "a vegetable organism". And on a menu mushrooms would be listed under veg. But I feel on less confident ground about this one. _____

Ian of London N14 came in first once again with a correct solution for last month's Genius puzzle (March, No 81 by Paul). His entry was timed at 02.02 on 1 March. There were 11 more correct entries on that first day and 307 in total by the deadline.